October 26, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:15 am to 11:00 am	2' sets to 3'
High outgoing tide (4.3 ft)	Slight NW cross breeze to no wind
Sunny, high clouds and fog on the horizon	Fun session

The last remnants of Storm #1 were still running today: 5 ft at 11 seconds. The weather was about to change, low pressure was moving in, pushing out the high pressure and the transition would produce two days of high NW winds, which means rough seas, chop and white caps. So today was the day to go out this week.

Eight surfers were out at the Groin at 8:30 am: Marty, Hans, Matt, Doug, Russ and three others. They were catching small, weak lefts at the only peak that was breaking. That’s Marty in the above photo on a good one. The Patch was flat this morning. Hans exited the water as I was suiting up. The crowd discouraged him. He went out early with Doug and Marty but within 30 minutes a dozen more people arrived and they all crammed together at the one and only peak.

The high tide was still pushing up the ramp this morning. I entered the water there and paddled out to the peak at the Groin. The waves were small but had decent shape. After my first wave I realized they lacked punch so I moved to the apex of the peak, which was half way between the Channel and the Groin, and waited for the set waves. Now I was in my element: sunshine, warm water, no wind, smooth surface and a peak of consistent well-shaped knee-high curls. On my second wave I turned into the peak, the wave broke in front of me; I coasted under the white water, climbed back into the swell and worked the wave for several yards. I did the same thing on several waves. The feel and glide of these nice peaks reminded me of small days at the reef at Cardiff by the Sea, where one glides down gentle swells for a long, long ways.

After an hour only four beginners and myself were out there. One of them was David who is about my age and rides a Becker longboard. I have seen him in the water a lot lately. Last week I asked him how he liked his Becker board. Phil Becker is the top board builder in the South Bay of Los Angeles. His home base is Hermosa Beach. David mentioned that he was just beginning and that he knew he knew nothing about boards. Friends in Hermosa Beach directed to this board and he bought it. I have owned two Becker boards, and my son Kevin has a beautiful eight-foot Mike Gee model Becker board. I didn’t tell David that I am a walking billboard for Becker Surfboards with my Becker baseball cap and three Becker tee shirts. I reassured him that he had an excellent board. While paddling out I saw David crouched down in the middle of his Becker board perfectly locked into a left three-foot curl. He cruised all the way to the shore. Yes, he was getting the hang of it.

I met Doug out there this morning. He is about my age, is just taking up surfing, lives in Berkeley, and is a psychologist with an office in Sausalito. He is in control of his time, has decided to only work four days a week and takes Mondays off to go surfing. He was having a great time on this beautiful morning.

As I was exiting the water I saw the back of some guy’s head as he crouched down and hummed across a six-inch shore break. It was Yoshi. Only Yoshi can ride the smallest waves in the world. Back at the cars he introduced me to his friend from Japan who was just ending a week’s stay in San Francisco. He was flying home tomorrow. I brought up the topic of baseball, knowing that it is a popular sport in Japan. They were Yankees fans because of Hideki Matsui, the Yankees’ designated hitter. They also root for the Seattle Mariners and their star hitter, Ichiro Suzuki. These two have become all-stars in the major leagues. Ichiro led the American League in batting average (.352) and number of hits (255). Hideki Matsui was named Most Valuable Player of this year’s World Series. In the six World Series games he batted .615 (8 hits for 13 at bats), had three home runs and 8 RBIs.

Again it was another eventful and beautiful fall morning in Marin.

October 23, 2009 Friday - Part 2

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 11:00 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
Low tide (3.4 ft at 9:00 am)	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny, warm and hazy	Good session

Today the waves were not huge but they were powerful with lots of push in each one of them. This swell was part of the Stormsurf’s Winter Storm #1, meaning a big north swell from the Gulf of Alaska. Mark Sponsler, the guy who runs Stormsurf.com, is the weatherman for the Maverick’s big wave contest. So when he gives a Gulf swell a “storm number” that means Maverick’s size waves are coming. Storm #1 arrived late Wednesday, peaked on Thursday and was still running today: 10 ft NW swells at 15 seconds. At Bolinas this translated to 4’ to 5’ waves with sets overhead.

Sizeable crowds were at both the Patch and the Groin. Mary, Russ, Hans, Hank and Robert the Oakland fireman were at the Patch. The Patch was smaller than last Wednesday because the three-foot south swell was gone. From the overlook I watched head high waves come through the Groin that nobody could make. Guys would drop down the face and plow into white water as the waves broke in front of them. Only at the very north edge of the peak and on the inside was there a nice rideable shoulder. I decided to go for that.

I paddled from the ramp to the inside peak at the Groin. Martha and Claude were there. So was the mid-fifties guy I surfed with last Wednesday at the Patch. He was the skilled longboarder with no booties, gloves, hood or leash, and yes he was the one who emphatically told the stand-up surfer where he could stick that paddle of his. Later on Professor Steve and David the Bolinas local joined us.

My first wave was a good one. As the wave approached I could see that it had some force. I stroked into it, turned left and looked down a beautiful wall that was feathering at the top of the wave for several feet ahead of me. I dropped down the face, slid under some white water, climbed back to mid-swell and cruised for a long ways. Paddling out I watch Martha drop down a head high wall that collapsed in front of her.

An outside set approached, the mid-fifties guy and I paddled out to meet it. The first wave of the set was beginning to break and I dug hard to get over it. My companion turned and went for it. In the instant before I pushed my head and board through the top of the wave I caught a glimpse of him taking off on this five-foot wall. As he dropped down the face, he was in a deep crouch on the inside rail of the tail-block with one hand stretched out gripping the outside rail. Once through the wave I looked back to see him crouched down in the middle of his board with just his head above the breaking part of a fast peeling wave. Later I complimented him on his ride. He told me that he got barreled on that one. Knowing how good he was, I believed him.

Twenty surfers were out at the Groin and the quality of the riders was good forcing me to be selective. The waves often sectioned in front of us and as the morning progressed they became steeper. A few of them crashed top to bottom. I dropped into a head high wall, stepped to the middle of the board, positioned myself mid-swell, crouched down and hung on. For a brief two seconds I screamed down a steep perfect curl until it buried me in a sheet of white water.

To beat the crowd I kept moving north and inside thinking about connecting with the steeper and faster inside curls. David was doing the same thing. But the crowd drifted along with us. About 10:15 am I hit a lull, fewer waves and more people. I finally connected on a good three-footer that I worked into the shore break. As I turned around to paddle back out I saw a three-foot shore break wave peel left along the contour of the shore. I decided to end my session in the shore break. I paddle out a short distance, turned and caught one that was reforming. I turned left, locked the rail under the lip of the wave, shot across a fast section and dove into the wave as it broke on the sand. I repeated this two more times and decided to call it quits.

When I first got up on the seawall this morning to take some pictures, I ran into Robert the Oakland fireman as he was coming back from his session at the Patch. I hadn’t seen him for months. Just last week Doug asked about him and none of us had seen him. He said hello, mumbled something about a good session and then proudly announced that he just had a baby. Well that helped explain his absence. This past year he fell in love, got married and they had a baby girl. He introduced me to his wife and four month old daughter, who is a big girl for just four months. Robert is still a fireman, he wasn’t called to fight the big fire in Los Angeles, but others in his company did go and Robert had to cover for them. They now live in Vacaville, which is 90 minutes from Bolinas and another reason why we don’t see him any more. He and his wife were having a fun time introducing their daughter to the beach.

Sunny and warm heat-wave day, with no wind, glassy conditions and a Gulf storm swell hitting Bolinas made for a perfect Marin fall day.

October 23, 2009 Friday - Part 1

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 11:00 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
Low tide (3.4 ft at 9:00 am)	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny, warm and hazy	Good session

“Look at the red tide!” Professor Steve commented between sets out at the Groin peak. “Yesterday it was clear.”

I noticed a slight brownish-red tint to the water when I launched myself off the ramp into a three-foot approaching wave at 9:00 am. The color became more pronounced the longer we were out there. By 10:30 am, near the end of my session, the water was a deep reddish-brown color. David, the Bolinas local, commented that Chuck the knee-boarder, who is a long time resident of Bolinas, is an expert on local birds, flora and fauna and he claims that elements in the red tide enter the air like pollen. Chuck swears that his nasal allergy was caused by the red tide. Last month, the red tide appeared and hung around for a week. Look at my photo of Matt on my September 23rd posting and note the brownish-red color of the wave. The above photo shows the red tide and the fierce shore break pounding the base of the ramp.

Professor Steve claims the red tide is an algae bloom. I googled red tide and located an informative article: Red Tides: Questions and Answers by Gregg W. Langlois, Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Public Health, Environmental Management Branch.

A red tide is a bloom of dinoflagellates, a particular group of phytoplankton, which are microscopic, single-celled plants that occur naturally in California’s coastal waters. A bloom occurs when dinoflagellates reproduce rapidly resulting in millions of cells per gallon of water. They seem to prefer warmer and calmer water. The reddish color is from pigments in the phytoplankton cells for capturing sunlight needed for cell nourishment, growth and reproduction. The color of a bloom can take on the appearance of a variety of shades from brown to burgundy to bright red. The color depends on the phytoplankton species, light intensity and angle of the sun shining on the water. The majority of red tides in California occur from early spring (February and March) to late summer (August and September). They can last for days to months depending on available nutrients, sunlight, water temperature, changes in wind and surf conditions, competition with other species and grazing by larger zooplankton and small fish.

Heads up surfers here’s the warning: Phytoplankton are the base of the food chain and their presence is both normal and essential. However, scientists are concerned that there has been an increase in the number of blooms, and that blooms, particularly toxic blooms, are occurring where they never occurred before. The increased red tide activity could be related to human activity, which has greatly increased the amount of nutrients that enter our coastal waters. The majority of red tides in California are non-toxic. However, non-toxic red tides can cause irritation of the eyes, mouth and throat as well as cold and flu-like symptoms. Unfortunately, some red tides are caused by species that produce deadly toxins such as domoic acid and paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins. Filter-feeding organisms like mussels, oysters, clams and scallops can accumulate dangerous levels of toxins produced by a few different phytoplankton species. These nerve toxins can also accumulate in the guts of crab, sardines and anchovies. So pay attention to alerts and quarantines issued by the California Department of Health.

This particular red tide hung around until Monday. When I paddled out to the Groin peak Monday morning to join Professor Steve the water only had a slight tinge of red. Steve commented that the red tide was still there and that he could feel it. The water felt the same to me, but I could smell the red tide. It has a distinct odor, much like smell I remembered as a kid around fishing piers, the smell of decaying fish. Professor Steve had heard the red tide was everywhere along the coast and it was in the lagoon also. Josh the Bolinas fisherman told him that last week the red tide was twenty miles out to sea where he was fishing. A couple of locals had come down with colds and blamed it on the red tide.

Weather conditions changed, low pressure moved in pushing out the sunny and warm high-pressure conditions. The transition from high to low brought in high winds Tuesday and Wednesday and the red tide disappeared.

October 21, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets head high
Low upcoming tide (2.9 ft at 7:30 am)	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
High fog to sunshine	Fun session

Two stand-up surfers were out at the Patch with us this morning. One was good and the other was just beginning.

“That guy dropped in on me,” I heard the good stand-up surfer said to the other one. “I’m going to talk to him about it.”

We normal surfers don’t enjoy having the stand-up guys around us. With their big boards they catch more waves than the rest of us and can catch them when the wave is still a flat swell. When paddling out, the stand-up surfers are awkward due to their big clumsy boards. Twice this morning I had to straighten out to avoid hitting them.

The good stand-up surfer paddles over to a mid-fifties aged longboarder who had no gloves, no booties and no leash. This guy was good. I had the impression that he has been surfing all his life. The stand-up guy presented his case in a proper British gentleman tone, a speech filled with indirect references and no direct accusations.

“Fuck off!” was the response. This set off several minutes of hostile words, something we rarely hear or see at Bolinas. Finally a set wave came through, the longdboarder turned and stroked into it. That ended their heated discussion and these two stayed away from each other for the rest of the morning.

Prospects for waves looked good this morning: 7 ft NW swell at 11 seconds with a 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds. The weather had just changed. Monday a front brought rain, south winds, white caps and rough seas. Yesterday high pressure moved in clearing out the clouds and producing sunny conditions for today.

“Hey dude where were you?” Claude stated in an email I received yesterday. “It was 4 ft and perfect at the Patch, and Mary and I had it all to ourselves. Get here early tomorrow.”

Claude was right; it was good today. Ten surfers were out at the Patch and only two at the Groin. The Patch was definitely the call. The inside rights looked good. Several of the Bolinas regulars were there: Mary and Claude following up on yesterday’s good session, Hans on his big purple board, Russ riding them on his knees, Hank getting in a few waves before work, Matt sitting outside and Jeff from Mill Valley going for the inside rights. The above photo is Jeff on a good one.

I paddled out to the group that was going for the inside rights. I thought I would catch a couple of those. Sitting there I looked outside and to the north. In came a set, I watched Claude stroke into a four-foot peak, drop to the bottom, crank a big turn to the right and cruise down a beautiful wall. “I’m going for that,” I said to myself and paddled out to where Mary and Matt were. Both Mary and Claude had to tell me yesterday was bigger, better shape and less people. Claude then paddled way outside to catch the “ultimate” wave. Typical Patch conditions, the waves would peak way outside, not break but keep moving forward and break when they hit the Patch reef. Thus we could see the sets coming a minute before arrived at the reef.

The waves had some force today. They would peak, break over the reef and reform into long right peeling waves. On my first wave I turned down a four-foot peak, cutback into the swell, pushed my weight forward to drop into the reforming inside curl, swung to the right again and trimmed down a well-formed wave for a long ways. Paddling out I watched Mary do the same thing. She traveled on and on stopping near the shore break. After sitting outside by himself for ten minutes, Claude caught a big one. One he milked all the way to the shore break. From then on Claude joined the group going for the inside rights.

After an hour, I hit a lull. The waves didn’t stop but I just didn’t connect, a combination of a changing tide and tired arms. Finally I caught one, my best ride of the morning. I was sitting next to the fifty-something surfer who had just told the stand-up surfer where to stick that paddle of his. A set approached, the first wave was four-feet and I could see another wave behind it. I watched the other guy closely to see if he was going for the first wave. At the last moment he turned and stroked into it. I quickly paddled over this wave and positioned myself for the second one. It looked walled but I decided to go for it. I dropped down a head-high wall, white water slid down from the top ahead of me; I leaned hard to the right, cruised under the white water into a steep fast breaking curl. I climbed high in the wave and shot through a steep section, eased up to let the wave build up, swung right again hummed through another section. Another surfer was paddling out, I had to straighten out to avoid hitting him, I turned hard right again but by now the wave had collapsed into a solid wall of white water and the ride was over. What a great ride. I gladly made the long paddle back out to do it again.

After two hours and several good long right waves I was exhausted and at the end of a good inside right curl I paddled in. It was just another beautiful Marin morning.

October 16, 2009 Friday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:30 am	2' to 4', sets to head high
High upcoming tide (6.2 ft at 10:30 am)	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

“It must have been an adventure coming in,” I said to Barry who had just finished his session.

“Adventure!” he replied. “Coming in was the most adventurous part of the morning. There is a hole at the base of the ramp. I jumped off my board a few feet from the ramp thinking I was in two feet of water and dropped up to my neck. I had to swim with my board to get out.”

The first major storm of the year had just swept through the Bay Area brining six inches plus of rain to Marin and 50 MPH winds. Remnants of a typhoon that hit Japan caused this storm. The typhoon pushed northwest across the Pacific, hit land in Japan, traveled north and got caught in the jet stream that blew moist air east to slam into the west coast of the United States.

The storm had passed, the wind died, warm sunshine returned and a storm generated 6 ft 12 second west swell was hitting Bolinas and Stinson. All the local surfers, including myself, were anxious to get back into the water. At 8:00 am twelve surfers were at the Groin and two (Mary and Russ) were at the Patch.

The storm had swept the sand off of the beach in Bolinas. With no sand to impede the water, a 6 ft high tide and a strong west swell, the waves surged half way up the ramp. Three-foot walls of water crashed into the seawalls on both sides of the ramp, making it impossible to walk in front of them. The above photo, taken by Matt, demonstrates the force of the waves hitting the seawall. I was observing the crashing waves and thinking that high tide wasn’t for another two hours. Getting in and out of the water was going to be a challenge. I put my leash on at the top of the ramp, walked cautiously down the ramp, waded up to my waist, waited for a lull between waves and launched myself into the water. Jack the Dave Sweet team rider called out to me from the top of the stairs to the seawall. He was dripping wet, had his board in hand and had just exited the water and walked across the top of the seawall. I could only glance at him because I had to focus on the approaching walls of water that were about to shoot up the ramp.

Coming in was also an adventure. After my session at the Groin I came into the beach and connected with Claude, his friend and Paul. We watched the waves slamming into the wall that protects the house on the south side of the ramp. A four-foot wave would crash against the wall, send a plume of water shooting up to the living-room windows of the house and a two-foot backwash wave would come surging off the wall and out into the in-coming waves causing the white water to leap high into the air. We had to re-enter the water to paddle around turbulence of the waves hitting the seawall.

“What’s the plan here?” Paul asked. This was his first time confronting waves surging up the ramp.

“We’ll paddle to the north end of the seawall and go in where there is sand,” I answered. Once on the sand we would climb over the boulders that form the foundation of the wall, walk along the top and down the stairs to the ramp.

That was the plan. When all four of us were straight out from the ramp, Claude and his friend decided to give the ramp a try. I stopped paddling and sat up to watch how they did. Claude, who is a big guy on a big board, is a strong paddler. He slowly started paddling for the ramp, he let one wave go by and starting stroking hard between waves. The first wave crashed, sent water shooting up the ramp, Claude went into high-gear stroking like mad, water rushed back down the ramp and Claude paddling as hard as he could stayed stationary until all the water had run down the ramp. Then the next wave crashed and pushed him up onto the ramp. He was in.

After seeing him struggle, I decided to stick to our original plan to paddle around the north end of the wall. Paul and I continued on. I have done this entry before and remembered coming in between the two rows of pilings from an ancient pier where there was sand and a few small rocks. Today a four-foot steep embankment of six-inch rounded stones greeted us. All the sand was gone. We paddled another twenty yards north before finding a patch of sand and went in without incident. Paul didn’t have on booties and had to walk across twenty yards of stones and crawl over big boulders in his bare feet. We made it onto the seawall and down the stairs to the ramp without any problems.

The waves were fun but nothing special, thick and slow. The tide was too high and the waves were difficult to catch. After paddling for and missing several I finally connect with a sizeable wall that was breaking on me. I turned left, coasted down one section, cut back to stay in the swell and let up build up on the inside. I was near the Groin pole and noticed that the wave was peaking to my right. I swung around to the right and a nice steep inside curl formed in front of me which I rode all the way to the shore. Malibu rights were breaking. Often with a big high tide, a good right peak forms off the end of Groin wall and peels along the contour of the shore toward to mouth of the lagoon. “Great, I will go for the rights,” I said to myself and paddled back to just beyond the end of the Groin wall. I connected on several good little right curls. I would ride them all the way to the shore, end up in a foot of water, pick up my board, walk up the beach around the Groin wall and re-enter the water at the Groin pole. Then after a short paddle I would be in position for another one. For forty-five minutes I worked the small right curls. Two others were with me doing the same thing. Claude would catch waves on the outside, ride them all the way in and would join me for one or two rights before venturing outside again.

After changing, chatting with others, walking into town for coffee I decided to check out the waves one more time before leaving. The sun was out, the sky clear, the wind had died and it was warm, a summer’s day. At 11:30 am, the high tide was backing off, the surf had picked up, the surface had glassed off and 23 surfers were out at the Groin.

October 7, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Sunny and clear	Fun session

For one hour it was perfect, all the elements came together: 2.5 ft south swell at 14 seconds, no wind, table-top smooth surface, mid-upcoming tide and a bottom at the Groin that forced all the ground swells to continuously peel to the left. A mellow crew of Bolinas regulars was there to take advantage of the good waves:

Martha on her 9’ 6” Dewey Weber,
Mark the archaeologist sitting way outside for the big one,
Matt going for the inside curls,
Hans who entered the water at 7:30 am,
Jeff from Dillon Beach giving his fiancée a surf lesson,
Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays,
Dan who was rehabilitating his knee after a recent operation,
Professor Steve on his turquoise-green short board, and
Yoshi was recovering from a cold that kept him out of the water for a week.

Jim the Stinson carpenter was on the Seadrift side of the Channel going for the rights. From I distance I could tell it was Jim from his distinctive, machine-like, knee paddling style.

All of us scored some great rides. From a distance I watched Martha trim down a head-high well-formed wall. As I was paddling out, Matt was locked into a fast inside curl and almost ran me over. Yoshi connected on three set waves near shore. With his unique style he crouched down in the middle of the board and cruised through the inside line-ups. Scott and Mark sat on the outside at the apex of the peak and picked off the biggest ones.

Everyone was surprised by the good conditions. Nobody expected this. The south swell arrived Saturday and all the Internet sites had predicted that it would be gone by today. To the contrary, the swell picked up. It was bigger today than yesterday. The north swell had dropped to one foot. The NOAA buoys reported four feet at 14 seconds. Three of the four feet were from the south. I asked Jeff how were the waves at Dillon Beach where he lives. Dillon faces north. Jeff stated than with only south swell and no north, the waves at Dillon were non-existent, merely six-inch ripples lapping on the shore. We all knew that these conditions would not last. The weather service predicted that a cold front with possible rain would arrive next Tuesday. Bay Area rain storms bring south winds and rough, choppy seas. Thus we had to take advantage of today’s good waves before they disappear.

At one point I was outside at the apex of the peak thinking that I might take a couple of rights. A four-foot set wave came through. I was positioned to take off late, but another surfer to my left was paddling for it also. At the last second I decided to go right, good choice, I dropped down a fast shoulder-high wall and traveled several yards before it closed out in front of me. Now it was not a good choice because it put me in the middle of the impact zone and that wave was the first one of a ten-wave set. I had to paddle through wave after wave until all the waves had passed. Only then could I make it back out to the peak. “I’ll not do that again,” I vowed. “No more rights.”

After an hour a south breeze began putting a texture on the surface and the incoming tide caused the waves to become mushy. Our perfect conditions deteriorated. I did manage to catch a couple of sizeable mushy walls. But I knew it was time. A set wave approached, I took off late and it broke in front of me. “This is it,” I thought. “Take it all the way in.” The wave had enough force to push me to within five feet of dry sand and I called it a day.

After changing, walking into town for a coffee and as I was about to take off, Claude arrived and asked how was it. “Great! Good south swell, but you’re too late,” I replied. Claude flew in from Detroit late last night and had slept in. He and his girl friend were on a weeklong trip delivering a car from Florida to a relative in Detroit. He got in one surf session in Florida and enjoyed seeing the country. He was ready to get wet. In an email later, he told me that after the high tide backed off the waves started firing, consistent three to four feet with an occasional five-footer. The sun came out, the wind died, the good waves marched in and only five guys were out. The next day he did it again, a repeat performance. As he put it, “god, I love Bolinas!”

So do I.

October 5, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze
Bright and sunny	Fun session

Conditions looked good this morning. The NOAA buoy report had a 7-foot swell at nine seconds. But within the seven feet was a 2.5 ft south swell at 17 seconds. Per Stormsurf, the south swell was from last week’s gale off of New Zealand. The Bay Area had just gone from a heat wave to a cold front. The change between high and low pressure produced three days of high winds. But this morning that was over. South swell, no wind and sunshine, things looked good. But the air was cold, high forties and the winds had brought cold water from the bottom to the surface, 51 degree water temp. I put of my gloves for the first time in months and that proved to be a good decision.

From the seawall at the base of the ramp I saw two surfers at the Groin and eight at the Patch. Both looked good. My surf companions were at the Patch: Marty, Hank, Russ and Hans. They were grouped together on the inside on the south edge of the reef and were going for the rights that began over the reef and peeled over the sand along the contour of the shore. The sets looked good but they were infrequent. After a long wait some waves came through. Russ caught the biggest one and rode it on his knees, something Russ often does. I decided to join my friends.

Russ got out and returned to his car while I was suiting up. He had a house project in progress thus he had to leave early.

With my board in hand I passed Hans who reported that it was much better earlier.

I met Hank at the north end of the seawall. He stated that it was fun, small, cold and it was better earlier.

I paddled out to where Marty was waiting for the next set. We chatted about things in general while we waited. Marty was substituting for a biology teacher on maternity leave and was having a great time teaching again. After a few minutes he announced he would catch one more and go in.

A set approached and I stroked into four-foot peak. I took off late, the wave broke on me, thus by the time I stood up white water surrounded me in both directions. I cut to the right and ten yards in front of me was Marty on his last wave trimming down a well-formed swell. I got a good view of his ride: bright sunlight, dark-green swell with a small wisps of spray coming off the lip and Marty perfectly situated in the curl coasting down the line. I waved good-bye to him as he paddled in.

I had come out to the Patch to be with my friends and now they were all gone. I paddled around searching for the best location. I headed north thinking I would catch a good left. I never happened. I paddled out and to the south hoping to connect on a big right wave. I never happened. Only those on the inside and on the south edge of the reef were catching waves. I moved over there but again no luck. The waves were infrequent and at least two others would be going for the same waves I paddled for. The tide was coming up causing mushy waves and backwash ripples were beginning to reflect off the cliff.

I thought I would take one in and head to the Groin to see how it was there. A set wave approached and broke on the outside. I caught the white water and belly boarded the wave until it reformed on the inside, I then stood up and rode it a long ways. I was now in the shore break south of the reef. I started paddling out when a three-foot shore break wall came in, I turned and stroked into it. I cut right, hung high in the wave, coasted under some white water into a steep fast curl, trimmed along it for several yards and pulled out over the top before the wave collapsed on shore. I ended up in knee depth water about ten feet from some nasty looking rocks; those brought in to prevent further erosion of the cliff.

I paddled out and here came another one and I did it again. Now I had found the spot. For forty-five minutes I caught one steep shore break after another. The high tide was pushing the swells towards the shore that would break over the reef, peel to the right and reform into steep shore break curls. Three others were out there doing the same thing. I sat inside of them. If they missed a wave I would turn and stroke into it. The tide kept coming up and soon the set waves were unloading on the shore. I knew it was time to call it quits. Besides the water was cold and my toes were getting numb.

On the beach I introduced myself to Bill who was getting out at the same time. He was of the three I was sharing waves with. We helped each other to climb onto and off the north seawall because due to the high tide the waves were smashing against the wall. Bill had a fun session and was glad to be back in the water. A friend had told him that last Saturday the surf was good but it was windy. Bill jumped onto the Internet, read the weather and surf reports and figured Monday would be his day: south swell, no wind and a smaller crowd. And he was right.

“So what gives you the opportunity to surf on a Monday morning?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m a landscape architect,” he said. “And there is no work.”

So Bill was here putting his forced free time to good use.